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Just a quick celebratory post today to signify Royce Harts induction as a Legend of the VFL-AFL competition. As you can see, Scanlon’s footy cards recognised Royce’s ‘legend’ status back in 1989, labelling him ‘The Richmond Legend.’

A big thankyou to my old footy card collection, still going strong, still proving relevant!!

My five year old daughter the other night asked whether the olden days were in black and white. I think we may have all had that moment as children, our only links with the past being the old black and white photographs we peered at curiously. Well sifting through some old things at my parents the other day, I came across this drawing I did as a teen, and was reminded of my reasons for drawing it. I wanted to bring to life an old black and white photograph of a Richmond v Fitzroy match from 1922, with captain Dan Minogue taking a mark in outstretched arms.

Whilst I’m not particularly pleased with the ‘trees of Yarra Park’ (I clearly had lost interest by this point, a common theme with myself and drawings) I made amends, in my mind at least, with the detail on the old grandstand, when my interest in the project was clearly at a peak. Below is the original snap, photographer unknown.

The result that day was Richmond 5.10.40 to Fitzroy 3.14.32, an aggregate of 8.24! Perhaps goalkicking accuracy isn’t so bad these days. Richmond having won the previous two VFL flags, and Fitzroy claiming their 7th later this year, it was fair to say the two clubs were a big deal at the time!

I took a photo from the same spot-Williamstown v Coburg, mid 2000's

Note: The grandstand…since renamed the Jack Dyer Stand, was opened in 1914, with a substantial addition in 1927. And Tiger fans…look out for my upcoming post on the Punt Road Oval! The more recent photo shows where the stand extenstion begins to the left.

The year was 1991, and Craig Lambert had just taken out the Richmond best and fairest award. This is long before the current day glitz and glamour of club Best & Fariests, complete with live streaming on the club websites. This was pretty much a sausage sizzle under a tent with 100 or so people around.That’s me on the left, Lamby in the middle and my sister Mezz on the right. Contrary to the lies I told my sister, that is not David Cloke in the background!

So that’s me in my dorky early 90’s Richmond attire… I would’ve worn Tiger jocks had they been available. Note my sisters Trent Nicholls badge atop her hat, her favourite player at the time, while Flea Weightman’s badge is close to my heart. The following year saw me don Lamby’s number 4, and as I had a long sleeve jumper, this felt authentic. It was with sadness that another Tiger hero of mine left at the end of 1993, but I followed his career with interest, much as I did with Stuey Maxfield in Sydney.

With the announcement that Richmond’s famous and fantastically located Punt Road Oval is set to undergo a significant redevelopment, I thought it appropriate to share with you some old pics that my dad took. He often bemoans his lack of forsight in taking a camera to the footy in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, but there were three significant occasions he thankfully documented.

One occasion was his photos post siren of the 1967 grand final, another from Kevin Barlett’s 400th match, both times taken from the middle deck of the old Northern Stand. The other is slightly more obscure, but none-the less significant. Dad, a teen at the time, had heard rave reports of the Tigers new signing from Tassie, Royce Hart. So he headed to Punt Road for the Richmond intra-club match, and was so excited that he brought his camera. Dad took several snaps from the recently demolished cricketers stand, and luckily he took enough that I was able to piece them together some years ago to form the below panoramic view of Punt Road circa 1966.

Apologies for my unfinished photoshop work…I haven’t had the time to do a better job of it! On my list of things to do! Pretty long list that!

Here are Tony Greenberg’s recollections of the following years intra-club, on richmondfc.com.au.